Musical instrument



Jan. 18, 1949. J. H O

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed March 25', 1946 H ll I x I J 25 ZNVE/VTOR JUH/V (CHAR J ,5

A iramvsy Patented Jan. 18, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to musical instruments and more particularly to a key board actuated reed instrument.

In the past, reeds have been used usually in the form of a cylinder that is rotated with prongs thereon so that the prongs will engage the various reeds in their proper sequence to set the reeds in vibration as the prongs pass out or" engagement with said reed and thus provide the fundamental tone accordin to the reed engaged. In this manner various combinations of reeds and actuating means have been developedto produce desired tunes.

This invention provides the usual sequence of reeds to produce a scale or a plurality of octaves in a desired range thus producing the usual tones similar to that produced on a piano. To facilitate the actuation of these reeds a standard piano key board is associated with the reeds and a pricker actuating rod is connected to each key of the key board. The pricking rod is mounted so that it may be moved with the movement of the associated key to produce a vibration in the reed with which it is associated, thus, producing a given tone and, in turn, may be returned to the reed to dampen and stop the vibration stopping the tone. The tone thus produced is quite similar to that produced with a harp, but unlike the rather difiicult method of playing a harp this instrument provides a key board similar to a piano which permits easy operation and permits anyone capable of playing a piano to also play this instrument. Since the usual piano is rather annoying when a player continually practices thereon this instrument provides a practice device in which the tone is so soft that the decibel measurement of the sound produced is considerably less than that of a piano and, in fact, the instrument provides means to release the sound actuating means providing a silent practicing key board. On the other hand, when sound is desired the least amount of sound produced will be by the actuation of the reeds without transferring this energy to the sound board and, in the event a better or louder tone is required, the energy produced by the various reeds will be transmitted to the sound board, and likewise, in the event the instrument is to be used to produce a larger decibel measurement of sound the sound board is provided with an electronic pick up means to transfer the sound produced to an amplifying means and the user of the instrument may predetermine the degree of sound volume desired by tuning said amplifier to produce tones of the desired quality and volume on the speaker or phones associated with said amplifier.

An object of this invention is to utilize the tone produced by pricking a reed in combination with a key board to provide easily accessible means to produce tones from a plurality of reeds.

A further object of this invention is to provide a reed tone producing instrument in which the reeds are provided with means to transfer the energy produced in the vibration of any reed to the sound board and in which means is provided to actuate said reeds with the keys of a key board.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a reed tone producing instrument having means to transfer the energy produced with any reed to a sound board and means connected to said sound board to electronically pick up said energy and carry it to an amplifier providing means to increase or decrease the decibel measure of said sound when any reed is vibrated.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a reed tone producin instrument in which the reeds are provided with means to transfer the energy produced in the vibration of any reed to the sound board and in which means is provided to actuate said reeds with the keys of a key board.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a reed tone producing instrument having means to transfer the energy produced with any reed to a sound board and means connected to said sound board to electronically pick up said energy and carry it to an amplifier providing means to increase or decrease the decibel measure of said sound when any reed is vibrated, having a key board means of actuating the reeds to produce a predetermined sound.

Other objects of this invention may be apparcut by reference to the accompanyin detailed description and the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic detail of the c0mplete apparatus, and

Fig. 2 illustrates a detailed view of the reed and pricking means.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is illustrated a standard piano key board in which the individual keys I I are mounted in the usual fashion to be retained in a normal horizontal position by a spring l2 and in which a felt I3 is provided at the opposite end of the key H. The key H is mounted on a fulcrum 14 so that it has the usual pivotal action of movement. An up-right I5 is threadably secured in the key I l to support a pricker arm I6 by means of a loose link joint 23. The key ll also has a lifter arm I! secured to the spring end thereof. The lifter arm I! has a felt pad It at the outer end thereof, which is mounted in an opening 19 in a lifting member 20. The lifting member '20 has a felt pad 2! at its upper end on which the rod it rests and spaced slightly above the rod 16 is a stop member 22 also provided with a felt pad thereon. The opening [9 is enlarged to provide a certain amount of lost motion in the movement of the lifter arm I! so that the rod 2!! will not be actuated immediately upon the movement of the key H, but will be actuated on the last degree of two of the pivotal movement of the arm IT. The pricker arm [6 at its outermost end is provided with a felt pad 24 on the lower side thereof. This pad rests on the edge of one of a plurality of reeds 25. It is apparent that there shall be one reed 25 for each key N. The reed 25 is mounted in a base supporting member 26 and at the base of each reed there is provided an energy transferring rod 2'1. The rod 2? bears against the base of the reed on one end and bears against a sound board 28 at its other side, so that the energy produced by a reed will be transferred through rod 2'! to the sound board 28. The sound board 28 may be of any standard design mounted securely with relation to the mechanism already described. In addition, the sound board 28 is pro- Vided with a rod 29 on which a contact mike 30 is mounted. The contact mike 30 is, in turn, connected by means of wires 3| and 32 to an ampli fier 33, the amplifier being provided with the usual tone control T and volume control V. The amplifier, in turn, is connected by means of wires 34 to a speaker 35, or the wires 34 may be connected to a pair of ear phones 36. In addition, a pawl 4e may be provided to be mounted below the pricker arm H5 and the pawl in turn is mounted on a rod having a crank or other operating means 42 connected thereto. Thus, whenever it is desirable to eliminate the reproduction of sound during the operation of the key board the operator may simply turn the element 42 to lift the rod l6 by means of the pawl All and silent operation of the key board may be obtained. Likewise, when it is desirable to obtain a soft pure reed sound without amplification the energy, transfer rod 21 of each and every reed may be mounted on a rod 43 so that a push or pull movement will disengage the rod 21 from the associated reed, thus when a tone is produced on the reed 25, it will not be carried through to the sound board 23. Referring to Figs 1 and 2 the manner of producing the vibration of the reed 25 may be followed. When an operator actuates the key N the pivotal movement is transmitted by means of rods 15 and H. The movement transmitted by rod [5 to the loose link 23 will cause rod it to be drawn to the right which, in turn, draws the felt pad 24 over the edge of the reed 25. Before the pad 24 has reached the end of its movement the lifter rod I! will have taken up its lost motion and engaged the member 20 to lift the rod Hi from contact with the reed 25, thus, as illustrated in Fig. 2, leaving the reed 25 vibrating. Thus, the vibration of the reed 25 produces a tone and the energy thus produced will be transmitted by means of the rod 21 to the sound board 28 which, in turn, produces a tone of greater volume and, when desired, the electronic pick up 30, when energized will transmit the tone produced by the sound board 2% to an electronic amplifier 33 which may, in turn, be regulated to produce the desired quality of tone and the desired volume of tone which is in turn carried to a speaker 35 or head phones 36 for reproduction.

Another modification of the device disclosed will be apparent by referring to the drawing Fig. 1. In a particular case that is especially true when the ear phones 36 are to be used and quiet operation of the device is desired. In such case it may be desirable to connect the contact mike 30 to the rod %3 or directly to each and every reed 25, thus eliminating the sound board 28. The remainder of the apparatus will be as indicated. Thus, in operation, the player may use the ear phones and may tune the amplifier to the desired pitch or volume and the operation of the device will not produce a tone loud enough to annoy others within hearing distance, yet the operator may clearly hear all tones produced.

The sound board 28 is provided with a supporting fulcrum point M so that the sound board may be moved to increase or decrease the tension on the reeds 25. Since the sound board is a vibratable mass and a certain tension must be maintained to produce the desired characteristics, the adjustable feature becomes necessary to maintain the desired relationship or the desired tension on the reeds 25. Attention is further directed to the spacing between the tip of reeds 25 and the lifting support 26. This particular distance is a matter of choice and the pad 2! of lifter 20 should be spaced a correct distance from the tip of the reeds. The adjustment of this distance in any desirable manner, such as providing a shifting of the reed 25 away or toward the lifter rod 25, or providing a threaded adjustment to the rod 22! and its associated lifting rod and key to also provide an adjustment toward or away from the reed 25 will provide an attenuation control. However, this has not been illustrated in the figure, as it is a matter of correct design in the original construction of the instrument and is not necessary to provide this adjustable feature. The feature, when included, will merely increase or decrease the desired response of the reed to the movement of the pricking means 2 Many changes and modifications of the apparatus described and illustrated may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention, and this invention shall be limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A musical instrument comprising a series of reeds having projecting vibratable end portions, a series of keys for actuating said reeds, a contact pad connected to each key and normally resting on each associated reed, a lifting rod for each contact pad actuated by its associated key to disengage said contact pad from the associated reed after the pad has moved over said reed, means to transmit a rubbing movement to each and every reed with the associated key to produce the tone of any reed.

2. A musical instrument comprising a series of reeds having projecting vibratable end portions, a series of spring biased pivotally supported keys, a wiping pad associated with each of said REFERENCES CITED keys for transmitting a, force to the reed associ- The following references are of record in the ated with the key operated, a lifting means con- 51511 of this Patent nected to each wiping pad to lift said pad from UNITED STATES PATENTS said reed after it has moved over same, means afiixed to each key to move said wiping means Number Name Date across the end portion of the associated reed, 489,035 Rand 1393 means connected to each key to lift the wiping 1,175,048 Come? 1916 means from its contact with the associated reed 10 1,370,576 Knoblaugh 1932 after the reed has been made to vibrate, means 21001322 Hammond May 21, 1935 to transmit the sound of each and every reed vibrated.

JOHN CHAPO. 

